Tottenham Hotspur have once again gone into the international break on the back of an incredibly disappointing Premier League defeat.
Spurs fell to a shock 2-1 loss at home to Ipswich Town, handing them their first top-flight win in over 20 years.
Tottenham’s season has been a real rollercoaster thus far, with Spurs fans seeing some brilliant displays interspersed with some real horror shows.
Now, Australian football legend Mark Schwarzer has shared his verdict on where Tottenham are going wrong, in comparison to Ange Postecoglou’s other jobs, such as Celtic.
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Mark Schwarzer says Ange Postecoglou’s other teams defended better and had more discipline than Tottenham
Schwarzer believes that, at this moment in time, it’s the players who are letting Postecoglou down rather than the other way round.
The Premier League icon also claims Tottenham simply don’t have the defensive discipline and the strength in depth to play the way Postecoglou wants all the time.
However, Schwarzer also said the Spurs manager “just isn’t going to compromise” on his style of play.
“Fans and pundits argue that while it’s exciting to watch, there has to be a balance – but that’s where Ange just isn’t going to compromise,” Schwarzer wrote on Optus Sport.
“He will always persevere with the style of football his teams have always played, but the difference with Spurs is his previous teams have been far better (in terms of ) discipline and have defended far better.
“So, yes, the tactics can be pointed at but I actually think it’s the players who are letting him down right now, rather than the other way around.
“Tottenham and the way they want to play are limited by their own numbers. To play the style of football that Ange wants to play, they’ve got to have a bit more strength in depth and they don’t have that at the moment.
“When Micky van de Ven is injured there is no one to replace him. When Heung-min Son was out injured there was no one to replace him.
“These are two of his best players but they’re so key to the system he wants to play that if they’re missing it makes it so much more difficult for Tottenham to achieve that style of football.
“He’s going to be resilient, he’s going to be defiant, and we’ve seen that time and time again in post-match interviews or even with the supporters.”
Will Postecoglou be given time at Tottenham?
Liverpool, who are currently top of the Premier League table, were in the doldrums for quite a while, even after Jurgen Klopp took charge.
Indeed, even as late as March 2019, Klopp was speaking to the press about the pressure of delivering a trophy for Liverpool, having lost two finals at that stage.
“There are only a few people who can throw me out of the club and everything is fine,” he told a press conference ahead of a Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich, as per This Is Anfield. “We are on the same page.”
It seems baffling to think that Klopp was having to address the prospect of being thrown out of Liverpool, considering all he went to achieve in the years that followed.
However, rebuilding a club takes time and it’s seldom a smooth path, at which point it becomes a case of how much fans are prepared to put up with and whether the board decides to stick or twist.
It’s clear what Postecoglou is trying to do at Tottenham, but a few more transfer windows – and appropriate backing – will be needed for the manager to bring in the players that he needs.
And in the meantime, the prospect of Postecoglou sticking to his style of play even when it doesn’t work on some occasions – particularly when certain players are missing – will probably unsettle a few.
After all, some might deem it either over-the-top stubbornness or, worse, a lack of plan B.
The question now is, will Postecoglou be given time and room for error on this journey, or will the board decide to try something – and someone – new?
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